By SUE WUETCHER

Being installed as a Nigerian chief in an elaborate ceremony in
December in the Yoruba town of Esie was a high point of his career,
says UB anthropologist Phillips Stevens Jr.

But that was just the beginning: Stevens learned after the
installation ceremony that a research center will be built in the
town and named for him.

“This is a double honor,” Stevens recently told the
UB Reporter. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.
Very few people from outside the area are given such an
honor.”

Both honors recognize Stevens’ work in the 1960s
preserving the stone images of Esie, Africa’s largest and
most mysterious collection of stone carvings. His work, part of his
duties during a stint with the Peace Corps, put Esie on the map and
sparked an economic boon for the town that continues to this
day.

Stevens, associate professor of anthropology, was one of 17
people installed as chiefs on Dec. 1 by the traditional ruler of
the town, HRM Oba Yakubu Babalola, as part of his 25th anniversary
celebration. Stevens received the chieftaincy title “The
Erewumi of Esie Kingdom;” Erewumi roughly translates to
“the images and I get along well,” Stevens
explained.

Phil Stevens' chieftaincy title, “Erewumi,” is inscribed in gold beads on his cap. The sprigs of akòko (Newbouldia laevis, or African Border Tree) peeking out from under the cap are traditionally placed on the heads of chiefs.

His trip to Nigeria began just after Thanksgiving with an 11
½-hour flight from Atlanta to Lagos, Nigeria. He stayed in
Lagos for two days, then traveled by road to Esie, a town in
southwest Nigeria—a six-hour trip.

Once in Esie, he was given two suits of traditional Yoruba
clothing to wear during the ceremony, which was held on a football
field and attended by 1,000 invited guests and, by Stevens’
estimation, another 500 onlookers.

Stevens and the other chiefs-to-be were brought individually
before the king by groups of supporters and drummers. Stevens knelt
before the king and a cap, inscribed with his title
“Erewumi” in gold beads, was placed upon his head.
Under the cap were stuck sprigs of akòko (Newbouldia laevis,
or African Border Tree), traditionally placed on the heads of
chiefs. He also wore a necklace and double bracelet of pink beads,
simulating the valuable coral beads that were ancient trade items
worn by chiefs in earlier times, as well as kings today.

Stevens said that when he stood up, well-wishers, drummers and
officials from the National Commission for Museums and
Monuments—who had come from Nigeria’s capital,
Abuja—surrounded him, held his arms and led him, dancing,
“back into the world after this transformation.” The
ceremony is, in fact, a rite of passage, marking a change in
status, Stevens said. “One leaves his former status, is
transformed, and ceremonially enters society in his new
status.”

The well-wishers also “sprayed” small-domination
paper money on his forehead and over his body, in a traditional
recognition of great achievement.

Drummers and musicians played, praise-singers chanted, the new
chiefs danced and everyone was served a big meal.

Stevens said he learned that the research center would be built
and named for him at a meeting later in the day with
representatives of the national commission.

The Phillips Stevens Jr. Center for Esie Studies will be the
center of further research on the soapstone figures, and Stevens
said other topics also may addressed, such as economic development
and social issues.

Stevens had worked part-time for the national
commission—then called the Department of
Antiquities—while teaching in the Peace Corps in 1963-64. He
was offered a full-time job in 1965 and was sent to Elsie to
document, catalogue and help repair the 1,000 soapstone
statues—many were broken or damaged to some extent—and
build a new museum to house them. He lived and worked in Elsie
until 1966, when he entered the graduate program in anthropology at
Northwestern University.

In 1974, he returned to the town to further document and
photograph the statues. His 1978 book, “The Stone Images of
Esie, Nigeria” (Ibadan University Press/Federal Department of
Antiquities; NY: Holmes & Meier/Africana), is the only complete
catalogue of the collection and the definitive text on the
figures.

Stevens said the whirlwind trip to Elsie “is still kind of
a blur.” He said he met a few people he remembered, including
a man who had worked with him who is now the chief Imam of the
town. While most of his friends and co-workers from the 1960s have
died, he was welcomed by several of their adult children.

And the town has grown tremendously. “It used to be a mile
walk or a difficult drive on a rutted dirt road to get to the
museum,” he said. “Now, the town has spread to the
museum.

“But Esie town is not on a main highway, hence it is quite
a peaceful place,” he said. “It is north of the humid,
tropical forest zone, nearly to the edge of the savannah, and on
somewhat elevated ground so there is frequently a breeze, and many
successful people are building their retirement homes
there.”

But what struck Stevens most strongly is the “peaceful,
indeed, indifferent coexistence of Christians and
Muslims.”

“The two largest buildings in the town, of equal height,
are the central mosque and the Cathedral Church of St. Michael, the
home church of the bishop of the Anglican diocese,” he said.
“Nigeria has a sad reputation for Muslim-Christian conflict
and Esie is a refreshing model of mutual tolerance and
respect.”

Stevens noted that hereditary or honorary chieftaincy is a great
honor and can benefit incumbents politically and economically.
“But it comes with a set of expectations,” he said,
adding that the newly installed chiefs were bestowed their titles
in recognition of their service to the town and its people, and
they will be expected to continue their service.

So Stevens has been rounding up copies of his book, which has
been out of print for many years, to send to the new research
center. He also plans to help with fundraising.